Africa's Pulse
27 items available
Permanent URI for this collection
Africa’s Pulse is a biannual publication containing an analysis of the near-term macroeconomic outlook for the region. Each issue also includes a section focusing upon a topic that represents a particular development challenge for the continent. It is produced by the Office of the Chief Economist for the Africa Region of the World Bank.
Items in this collection
1 - 8 of 8
-
Publication
Africa's Pulse, No. 21, Spring 2020: An Analysis of Issues Shaping Africa’s Economic Future
(World Bank, Washington, DC, 2020-04-08)The COVID-19 pandemic has taken a toll on human life and brought major disruption to economic activity across the world. Despite a late arrival, the COVID-19 virus has spread rapidly across Sub-Saharan Africa in recent weeks. Eeconomic growth in Sub-Saharan Africa is projected to decline from 2.4 percent in 2019 to -2.1 to -5.1 percent in 2020, the first recession in the region in 25 years. The coronavirus is hitting the region’s three largest economies —Nigeria, South Africa, and Angola— in a context of persistently weak growth and investment. In particular, countries that depend on oil and mining exports would be hit the hardest. The negative impact of the COVID-19 crisis on household welfare would be equally dramatic. African policymakers need to develop a two-pronged strategy of “saving lives and protecting livelihoods.” This strategy includes (short-term) relief measures and (medium-term) recovery measures aimed at strengthening health systems, providing income support to workers and liquidity support to viable businesses. However, financing of these policies will be challenging amid deteriorating fiscal positions and heightened public debt vulnerabilities. Therefore, African countries will require financial assistance from their development partners -including COVID-19 related multilateral assistance and a debt service stand still with official bilateral creditors. -
Publication
Africa's Pulse, October 2015
(World Bank, Washington, DC, 2015-10-05)External headwinds and domestic difficulties are impacting economic activity in Sub-Saharan Africa. Sub-Saharan Africa’s growth will decelerate in 2015 amid weak global economic conditions. Some countries, however, will continue posting solid growth. Sub-Saharan Africa is entering a period of tightening borrowing conditions amid growing domestic and external vulnerabilities. Reflecting the widening fiscal deficits, government debt has continued to rise in many countries. Weak fundamentals, combined with the strong appreciation of the U.S. dollar, have kept currencies across the region under pressure throughout the year. Policy buffers are low in several countries, constraining the response to the current environment and underscoring the need for African countries to improve domestic resource mobilization and enhance public expenditure efficiency. Progress in reducing income poverty in Sub-Saharan Africa may have been faster than the authors thought, but poverty remains high. The region’s growth deceleration challenges efforts to reduce poverty. -
Publication
Africa's Pulse, April 2014 : An Analysis of Issues Shaping Africa's Economic Future
(Washington, DC, 2014-04)This Africa's pulse newsletter includes the following The economic outlook for Sub-Saharan Africa remains robust, but growth is vulnerable to lower commodity prices and a slowdown in capital flows, the frequency and strength of growth spurts have increased, and growth has shifted the structure of African economies in favor of the resources and services sectors. -
Publication
Africa's Pulse, October 2012 : An Analysis of Issues Shaping Africa's Economic Future
(Washington, DC, 2012-10)This Africa's pulse newsletter includes the following headings: Sub-Saharan African countries continue to grow at a steady pace; the region's decade-long economic expansion appears sustainable; and for newly resource-rich countries, strong governance will be key to harnessing resource wealth for development. -
Publication
Africa's Pulse, February 2012 : An Analysis of Issues Shaping Africa's Economic Future
(Washington, DC, 2012-02)This Africa's pulse newsletter includes the following headings: recent economic trends; global economic developments; and trends and outlook for Sub-Saharan Africa. -
Publication
Africa's Pulse, September 2011 : An Analysis of Issues Shaping Africa's Economic Future
(Washington, DC, 2011-09)This Africa's pulse newsletter includes the following heading: recent economic trends; and the challenge of employment in Africa: raising the productivity of the informal sector. -
Publication
Africa's Pulse, April 2011 : An Analysis of Issues Shaping Africa's Economic Future
(Washington, DC, 2011-04)This Africa's pulse newsletter includes the following heading: recent global economic trends and prospects; factors driving the region performance; risk to economic prospects; and rising commodity prices. -
Publication
Africa's Pulse, April 2010 : An Analysis of Trends Shaping Africa's Economic Future
(Washington, DC, 2010-04)This Africa's pulse newsletter includes the following headings: recent economic trends and prospects; Africa and the millennium development goals; and yes Africa can: success stories from a dynamic continent.